(Caracas, Venezuela) The Canadian Women’s National Softball Team finished second place in Pool A following a 6-1 win over the Netherlands. The second place finish secures double-life for Canada in the playoff round, and they will play the United States (7-0) at 3:30pm EDT on Wednesday in the page playoff system.

In the game against the Netherlands, Canada continued to score runs early, as they put up two runs in the bottom of the first. Melanie Matthews (Surrey, BC) led off with a line drive single to centerfield and was moved to second by a Corrine Doornberg (Langley, BC) sacrifice bunt. Jenn Yee (North Delta, BC) followed with an RBI single to left but tried to stretch it into a double when the ball was bobbled by the Dutch fielder and Yee got caught in a run down after a good recovery by the fielder. Sheena Lawrick (Calgary, AB) then step up to the plate and hit a long fly ball to right field and ended up with a home run when the Dutch fielder bobbled the ball over the fence as she was trying to catch the drive.

 

Canada did not let up in the second inning, as they took advantage of a few miscues by the Netherlands to produce four more runs. With one out, Jill Russell (London, ON) singled with a ground ball to the left side of the infield and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Evelyne Pare (Ile-Perrot, QC) singled with a drag bunt, and with runners on first and third, stole second base. Matthews hit a hot shot to shortstop, who made the error, and allowed two runs to score. Doornberg then lifted a shallow fly ball to left and the Netherlands shortstop and left fielder collided and dropped the ball. Yee drove in Doornberg for Canada’s fourth run with a ground ball single up the middle.

The Netherlands finally got to Canadian starting pitcher Ashley Lanz (Winnipeg, MB) in the top half of the fifth, as Solange Starrenburg cracked a solo homerun. However, that was as close as the Netherlands would get, as the loss dropped their record to 4-3, good for fourth place in Pool A.

Lanz turned in a solid outing for Canada in the pitcher’s circle, allowing one earned run on three hits, and struck out two batters without issuing a walk. Jenn Yee had two singles for Canada, while Matthews, Lawrick, Russell and Pare each added a hit.

All playoff games, including the Canada-USA game at 3:30pm EDT on Wednesday, may be available via webcast at: http://www.vtv.gov.ve/envivo.html. Live scoring will also be available through the USA Softball website: http://www.usasoftball.com/events.asp?uid=5585.

In other action on Tuesday, Japan dominated South Africa 10-0, Australia won by that same 10-0 score over Botswana, the United States remained unbeaten with a 9-0 win over the Czech Republic, Great Britain edged Argentina 2-1 in nine innings, Chinese Taipei got by Cuba 1-0, New Zealand shut out the Dominican Republic 3-0, and Venezuela secured second place in Pool B with a 5-2 win over China.

Canada 12 vs. South Africa 0: Box Score

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For more information, please contact:

Gilles LeBlanc
Manager – Marketing and Communications
Softball Canada
(613) 523-3386 ext. 3105
gleblanc@softball.ca